A Democratic senator is urging the IRS to fix a problem that is denying families a healthcare credit because the agency is behind on processing tax returns.
Senate Finance Committee member Mark R. Warner, D-Va., told IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig in a November 23 letter that some families are being denied a credit to lower their healthcare costs despite having filed their 2019 returns.
Qualifying taxpayers are eligible for advance premium tax credits on the Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace, but the government is unable to determine who those taxpayers are without their tax return information. Warner, who recently won reelection, said taxpayers are receiving notices telling them they are in violation of the marketplace’s “failure to file and reconcile” requirement, despite having filed their returns.
Warner said some taxpayers are being denied the credit through no fault of their own as the IRS continues to deal with processing delays after Treasury moved the filing deadline from April 15 to July 15. Lawmakers have already raised the alarm about the IRS’s backlog and questioned Rettig about it during a recent House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing.
“I am concerned that individuals will be wrongfully denied coverage and that a failure to address this issue could result in these families going without health care coverage during the peak of an unprecedented global pandemic,” Warner said in the letter.
The letter, which was also addressed to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, urged the government to address the problem by suspending the termination of the 2021 advance premium tax credit. Warner also asked Rettig and Verma to extend the deadline to apply for 2021 coverage for affected individuals.
The deadline to enroll in the ACA is December 15.